Overview of satellite missions

I tried to compile a table of commonly used satellite missions. The first column is a first-order classification based on satellite type (→ Multispectral, Hyperspectral, SAR) and spatial resolution (→ High, Moderate, Coarse). The columns then provide information on:

1. Spatial resolution / footprint width
2. Temporal resolution / temporal range
3. Spectral resolution / orbit type
4. Country of origin / license / access to GEE catalogue

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Spatial resolutionTemporal resolutionSpectral resolutionCountry/license

Mission Type	Mission	Spatial Resolution	Swath / Footprint
High Res Optical	WorldView-3	0.31 m (pan), 1.24 m (MS), 3.7 m (SWIR)	13 km
	Pleiades-Neo	0.3 m (pan), 1.2 m (MS)	14 km
	GeoEye-1	0.41 m (pan), 1.65 m (MS)	15 km
	PlanetScope	~3–5 m (MS)	~24 km
Moderate Res Optical	Landsat Program (1–9)	15–120 m (varies by generation)	185 km
	Landsat-8/9	15–100 m	185 km
	Sentinel-2A/B	10–60 m	290 km
	Resourcesat-2	5.8–56 m	23–740 km
	ASTER (Terra)	15–90 m	60 km
Coarse Res Optical	MODIS (Terra/Aqua)	250–1000 m	2330 km
	VIIRS (Suomi-NPP, JPSS)	375–750 m	3040 km
	AVHRR	1.1–4 km	2399 km
Moderate Res Hyperspectral	EnMAP	30 m	30 km
	PRISMA	30 m (HS), 5 m (pan)	30 km
	HISUI (ISS)	20–30 m	~20 km
High Res SAR	TerraSAR-X	1–40 m	30–100 km
	COSMO-SkyMed	1–100 m	10–200 km
	ICEYE	1–15 m	~100 km
	Capella Space	0.5–10 m	~80 km
Moderate Res SAR	Sentinel-1A/B	5–100 m	80–400 km
	RADARSAT-2	3–100 m	20–500 km
	RCM (RADARSAT Constellation)	3–100 m	20–500 km
	ALOS-2 (PALSAR-2)	3–100 m	50–350 km
Coarse / Wide-Swath SAR	SAOCOM-1A/B	10–100 m	50–350 km
	NISAR (planned)	3–50 m	240 km

Mission	Temporal Resolution	Temporal Range
WorldView-3	<1 day	2014–present
Pleiades-Neo	Daily	2021–present
GeoEye-1	<3 days	2008–present
PlanetScope	Daily (constellation)	2014–present (expanding)
Landsat Program (1–9)	16 days (since L-7)	1972–present
Landsat-8/9	16 days	Landsat-8: 2013–present; Landsat-9: 2021–present
Sentinel-2A/B	5 days	2A: 2015–present; 2B: 2017–present
Resourcesat-2	5–24 days	2011–present
ASTER (Terra)	16 days	1999–2023 (science ops ended)
MODIS (Terra/Aqua)	1–2 days	Terra: 1999–present; Aqua: 2002–present
VIIRS (Suomi-NPP, JPSS)	Daily	Suomi-NPP: 2011–present; JPSS series: 2017–future
AVHRR	Daily	1978–present (NOAA & MetOp)
EnMAP	~27 days global, ~4 days targeted	2022–present
PRISMA	~29 days global, ~7 days targeted	2019–present
HISUI (ISS)	Variable (ISS orbit)	2019–present
TerraSAR-X	11 days	2007–present
COSMO-SkyMed	<1 day (constellation)	Gen-1: 2007–2021; Gen-2: 2019–present
ICEYE	<24 h (constellation)	2018–present
Capella Space	<24 h (constellation)	2018–present
Sentinel-1A/B	6 days (pair), 12 days (single)	1A: 2014–present; 1B: 2016–2022 (failed); Sentinel-1C planned
RADARSAT-2	24 days	2007–present
RCM (RADARSAT Constellation)	4 days	2019–present
ALOS-2 (PALSAR-2)	14 days	2014–present
SAOCOM-1A/B	8 days	1A: 2018–present; 1B: 2020–present
NISAR (planned)	12 days	Launch planned 2025

Mission	Spectral / Radar Band	Orbit Type
WorldView-3	29 bands	SSO
Pleiades-Neo	4 bands	SSO
GeoEye-1	4 bands	SSO
PlanetScope	4 bands	SSO (CubeSats)
Landsat Program (1–9)	Multispectral (MSS, TM, ETM+, OLI/TIRS)	SSO
Landsat-8/9	11 bands	SSO
Sentinel-2A/B	13 bands	SSO
Resourcesat-2	VNIR + SWIR	SSO
ASTER (Terra)	14 bands	SSO (on Terra)
MODIS (Terra/Aqua)	36 bands	SSO
VIIRS (Suomi-NPP, JPSS)	22 bands	SSO
AVHRR	5–6 bands	SSO
EnMAP	242 bands (VNIR+SWIR)	SSO
PRISMA	239 bands (VNIR+SWIR)	SSO
HISUI (ISS)	~185 bands (VNIR+SWIR)	ISS (LEO)
TerraSAR-X	X-band	SSO
COSMO-SkyMed	X-band	SSO
ICEYE	X-band	SSO (CubeSats)
Capella Space	X-band	SSO (CubeSats)
Sentinel-1A/B	C-band	SSO
RADARSAT-2	C-band	SSO
RCM (RADARSAT Constellation)	C-band	SSO
ALOS-2 (PALSAR-2)	L-band	SSO
SAOCOM-1A/B	L-band	SSO
NISAR (planned)	L-band + S-band	SSO

Mission	Country / Operator	License	GEE
WorldView-3	USA (Maxar)	Commercial	N/A
Pleiades-Neo	France (Airbus)	Commercial	N/A
GeoEye-1	USA (Maxar)	Commercial	N/A
PlanetScope	USA (Planet Labs)	Commercial (limited free)	N/A
Landsat Program (1–9)	USA (NASA/USGS)	Free	Landsat Collection
Landsat-8/9	USA (NASA/USGS)	Free	Landsat 8
Sentinel-2A/B	EU (ESA/Copernicus)	Free	Sentinel-2
Resourcesat-2	India (ISRO)	Commercial	N/A
ASTER (Terra)	USA/Japan (NASA/JAXA)	Free	ASTER
MODIS (Terra/Aqua)	USA (NASA)	Free	MODIS Terra
VIIRS (Suomi-NPP, JPSS)	USA (NOAA/NASA)	Free	VIIRS
AVHRR	USA/EUMETSAT	Free	AVHRR
EnMAP	Germany (DLR)	Free	N/A
PRISMA	Italy (ASI)	Free (research)	N/A
HISUI (ISS)	Japan (JAXA)	Free	N/A
TerraSAR-X	Germany (DLR/Airbus)	Commercial	N/A
COSMO-SkyMed	Italy (ASI)	Commercial	N/A
ICEYE	Finland (ICEYE)	Commercial	N/A
Capella Space	USA (Capella)	Commercial	N/A
Sentinel-1A/B	EU (ESA)	Free	Sentinel-1
RADARSAT-2	Canada (CSA/MDA)	Commercial	N/A
RCM (RADARSAT Constellation)	Canada (CSA)	Mixed	N/A
ALOS-2 (PALSAR-2)	Japan (JAXA)	Commercial (some free)	ALOS PALSAR
SAOCOM-1A/B	Argentina (CONAE)	Free (research), partly commercial	N/A
NISAR (planned)	USA/India (NASA/ISRO)	Free (planned)	N/A